It was a miracle no one was killed when a hunt pack ran onto a busy motorway, according to the Irish Council Against Blood Sports.

Dash camera footage revealed drivers pulling onto the hard shoulder to avoid the pack of hounds that ran onto the M3 between Navan and Skryne near Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, on Monday. Four hunting dogs were killed.

The mishap took place during an equestrian hunt organised by the Meath Hunt.

Club secretary Janet Williamson claimed it was the first time something like this had happened since the M3 opened in 2010.

She said the hounds were supervised by marshals during the hunt, but the dogs managed to run off and onto the road.

"Our hounds are looked after well by a whole team of experienced staff and nobody wants to see this kind of thing happen," she said.

She said the owner of a car that was badly damaged during the incident will be reimbursed for repairs.

Motorist Donna Griffin, who was driving to Dublin on the motorway and captured the incident on a dash camera, said she came across the dead dogs on the motorway followed by "loads more hounds running towards traffic".

"It appears they came out from a field beside the motorway," she told the 'Meath Chronicle'.

Aideen Yourell, spokeswoman for the Irish Council Against Blood Sports, said it was not the first time that hounds have gone awry during hunts.

"They go where they like when they follow the scent onto the road," she told the Irish Independent last night. "It's a miracle there hasn't been a fatal collision."

Ms Yourell said the organisation would be filing a complaint over the incident which she claims breached the Control of Dogs Act "causing endangerment to motorists" as well as the Animal Health and Welfare Act.